The impact of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010 affected Haiti's capital and nearby towns and killed up to 230,000 people. Damages and losses were evaluated at around US$8 billion or 120 percent of GDP.
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This economy profile for Doing Business
2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for Haiti. To
allow for useful comparison, the profile also provides data
for... Show More + other selected economies (comparator economies) for each
indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the 12th edition in a
series of annual reports measuring the regulations that
enhance business activity and those that constrain it.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for
2015 Haiti ranks 180. A high ease of doing business ranking
means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the
starting and operation of a local firm. Doing Business
presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and
the protection of property rights that can be compared
across 189 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and over
time. Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas
of the life of a business known as indicators. Ten of these
areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease
of doing business: starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, getting electricity, registering
property, getting credit, protecting minority investors,
paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,
and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor
market regulation, which is not included in this year's
ranking. The data in this report are current as of June 1,
2014 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover
the period from January to December 2013). Show Less -

The Haiti Electricity Loss Development
Project had a moderate unsatisfactory performance by the
Bank and borrower. The objectives are to contribute to the
sustainab... Show More +le improvement in the quality of electricity
services to customers and to the strengthening of the
financial and operational performance of the electricity
public utility (EDH). The PDO formulation in the PAD and in
the Legal Agreement5 are slightly different: the PDO stated
in the PAD has been selected here because it is the one
approved by the Board, used in the results frameworks and
monitored throughout project implementation. The Additional
Financing (AF) approved by the Board on July 29, 2009 (Grant
A-H5100, for $5 million) did not include any change in the
PDO formulation; the additional resources were oriented
towards: (i) providing management support to EDH as a new
project component (new Component 4); (ii) covering cost
overruns under Component 1 (implementation of a new
commercial approach for EDH) and Component 2 (Improvement in
quality of service and increase in revenue collection of EDH
through selected groups of customers); and (iii) making
additional funds available for Component 3 (Participatory
approach, project management, monitoring and impact
evaluation, and replication strategy). The institutional
framework, procurement and disbursement arrangements
remained also unchanged. Lessons learned were that the
preparation of small projects in weak institutional
environments requires dedicating as many resources as
possible to a careful and detailed planning of what can be
expected in order to optimize the use of scarce funds. When
addressing the issues of poorly run institutions such as EDH
it is necessary to focus not only on the abilities of lower
level managers in charge of implementation, but also on the
commitment of higher management. Focusing on customer
service is the key towards utility rehabilitation, but
requires actions at all levels of management, and not only
at the operational level. Finally, the main lesson on the
M&E is to select realistic indicators and with a direct
causality with the project activities, as it can become
difficult to differentiate the impact of several factors on
the same network infrastructure performance. Show Less -

This economy profile presents the Doing
Business indicators for Haiti. In a series of annual
reports, Doing Business assesses regulations affecting
domestic firms in... Show More + 189 economies and ranks the economies in
10 areas of business regulation, such as starting a
business, resolving insolvency and trading across borders.
This year's report data cover regulations measured from
June 2012 through May 2013. The report is the 11th edition
of the Doing Business series. Show Less -

The objectives of the Emergency Bridge
Reconstruction and Vulnerability Reduction Project (EBRVRP)
for Haiti are to: i) restore access on selected critical
point of... Show More + the Haitian transportation system; and ii) support
vulnerability reduction by strengthening the Haitian
national disaster risk management system. The second level
restructuring will involve following changes, including:(i)
closing date will be extensted by 21 months, from June 30,
2013 to March 31, 2015, to allow for completion of the
construction of the bridge Le Theme in Mirebalais under
component one; (ii) changes to outputs associated with
component one and component two, as a result of compounded
urgent and emergency response activities following adverse
natural events; (iii) a reallocation of funds from category
two and category three to category one; (iv) changes to the
Technical Assistance (TA) activities under component four to
reflect the changes in the institutional framework for
vulnerability reduction in Haiti; and (v) slight
modifications to the Project Development Objective (PDO)
level results indicators to monitor the results expected
from the modified activities. Show Less -

The objective of the Business
Development and Investment Project for Haiti is to assist
the recipient in: (a) improving the conditions for private
sector investment... Show More + and inclusive growth; and (b) improving
its capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an
eligible emergency. The project has four components. (1)
Business environment and investment generation component
will contribute to the design and implementation of
economy-wide business environment reforms, as an improved
business environment is correlated with higher private
sector growth. (2) Business development services for Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) component will build
the capacity of MSME to serve the tourism value chain and to
enter into the supply chain of Integrated Economic Zones
supported by the Project, principally in the agribusiness
and apparel sectors, contributing to a more inclusive model
of development and also will address an important constraint
to their growth. (3) Project implementation, evaluation and
monitoring component will support project management,
monitoring and evaluation by provisioning goods, technical
assistance, training and operating costs. (4) Immediate
response mechanism component will provision of support to
respond to an eligible emergency. Show Less -

The objective of the Electricity Loss
Reduction Project for Haiti is to contribute to the
sustainable improvement in the quality of electricity
services to customers... Show More + and to the strengthening of the
financial and operational performance of the Electricity
Public Utility (EDH). The restructuring will: (i) increase
funding to components 1.1, 3 and 4.1 to strengthen support
for specific items such as information systems, remote
meters, technical assistance, and implementation units; (ii)
decrease funding to components 1.2, 2 and 3 for reallocation
of funds in completed activities and categories ; and (iii)
extend the closing date of the project by six months. This
restructuring proposes to reallocate funds among the various
components and categories, to postpone the deadline for
submission of EDH's audited financial statements, and
to extend the closing date of the project by six months,
from February 28, 2013 to August 31, 2013. The reallocations
would increase funding for: (i) the sustainable installation
of billing system, (ii) the monitoring of installation of
remote metering systems for large customers, (iii) capacity
building for the EDH technical unit, (iv) technical
assistance for EDH's management, and (v) realization of
monitoring and evaluation surveys to measure the
Project's satisfaction level inside EDH and for
EDH's customers. The restructuring proposes to decrease
funding for the punctual expertise to support EDH Management
and to use remaining funding of completed and activities
like capacity building for the Ministry of Public Works,
Transport, Communication and Energy (MTPTCE) energy unit and
grid works and standard meters for residential customers
(activities partially funded by other donors). Show Less -

The objective of the Electricity Loss
Reduction Project for Haiti is to contribute to the
sustainable improvement in the quality of electricity
services to customers... Show More + and to the strengthening of the
financial and operational performance of the Electricity
Public Utility (EDH). The restructuring will: (i) increase
funding to components 1.1, 3 and 4.1 to strengthen support
for specific items such as information systems, remote
meters, technical assistance, and implementation units; (ii)
decrease funding to components 1.2, 2 and 3 for reallocation
of funds in completed activities and categories ; and (iii)
extend the closing date of the project by six months. This
restructuring proposes to reallocate funds among the various
components and categories, to postpone the deadline for
submission of EDH's audited financial statements, and
to extend the closing date of the project by six months,
from February 28, 2013 to August 31, 2013. The reallocations
would increase funding for: (i) the sustainable installation
of billing system, (ii) the monitoring of installation of
remote metering systems for large customers, (iii) capacity
building for the EDH technical unit, (iv) technical
assistance for EDH's management, and (v) realization of
monitoring and evaluation surveys to measure the
Project's satisfaction level inside EDH and for
EDH's customers. The restructuring proposes to decrease
funding for the punctual expertise to support EDH Management
and to use remaining funding of completed and activities
like capacity building for the Ministry of Public Works,
Transport, Communication and Energy (MTPTCE) energy unit and
grid works and standard meters for residential customers
(activities partially funded by other donors). Show Less -

This tenth edition of Doing Business
sheds light on how easy or difficult it is for a local
entrepreneur to open and run a small to medium-size business
when complying... Show More + with relevant regulations. It measures and
tracks changes in regulations affecting eleven areas in the
life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with
construction permits, getting electricity, registering
property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying
taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts,
resolving insolvency and employing workers. Doing Business
presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and
the protection of property rights that can be compared
across 185 economies, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, over
time. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes
and identify what reforms have worked, where and why. This
economy profile presents the Doing Business indicators for
Haiti. To allow useful comparison, it also provides data for
other selected economies (comparator economies) for each
indicator. The data in this report are current as of June 1,
2012 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover
the period January - December 2011). Show Less -

Haiti remains the poorest country in the
Americas and one of the poorest in the world, with
significant needs in basic services. It is also one of the
most unequal,... Show More + with a Gini coefficient of 0.59. Over half of
its population of 10 million lives on less than US$1 per
day, and 78 percent live on less than US$2 per day. Before
the earthquake in 2010, the country lagged in social
indicators and had suffered from repeated exogenous and
political shocks. In 2008 rising food and fuel prices led to
riots and the fall of the government. Tropical storms and
hurricanes that same year caused losses estimated at US$900
million (15 percent of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP).
Despite this, Haiti experienced modest but stable growth in
the 2000s, with an average real growth of 2.2 percent p.a.
between 2004 and 2009. Public-Private Infrastructure
Advisory Facility (PPIAF) has supported the consolidation,
strengthening, and harmonization of public-private
partnership (PPP) policies and institutional and legal
frameworks of Haitis telecommunications and energy sectors.
PPIAFs activities have reviewed, analyzed, and proposed
recommendations on existing legislation to support public
enterprises entering into long-term contractual arrangements
with private sector service providers, and to develop
minimum standards and regulations governing PPP contracts. Show Less -

The objectives of the Rebuilding Energy
Infrastructure and Access Project for Haiti are to (a)
strengthen the recipient's energy policy and planning
capacity; (b) improve... Show More + the sustainability and resilience of
the recipients electricity sector and restore and expand
access to reliable electricity services; and (c) provide
financial assistance in case of an energy sector emergency.
The project has three components. (1) Strengthening energy
sector institutions and improving energy access. (2)
Enhancing Electricite d'Haiti (EDH's) performance
and rehabilitating and expanding infrastructure. (3) Energy
sector risk and emergency response contingent reserve
component will provide support upon occurrence of an energy
sector emergency through: (a) the carrying out of emergency
recovery and rehabilitation activities; and/or (b) technical
assistance to support Ministry of Public Works, Transport,
Energy and Communication (MTPTEC) and EDH in its response to
an energy sector emergency. Show Less -

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
contribute to job creation in all types of economies, but
they have a particularly critical role in fragile and
conflict-affected... Show More + states. In Haiti, for example, smaller
companies represent the backbone of the economy, employing
about 80 percent of the workforce. These SMEs face many
challenges in managing their operations and setting up sound
business strategies, challenges that can lead to limited
growth opportunities and difficulties in accessing credit.
Following the devastating earthquake of 2010, which
magnified the already difficult circumstances, International
Finance Corporation, or IFC supported private sector
development by providing SMEs with specific management tools
under the Business Edge (BE) program to help with the
recovery process. This smart lesson presents lessons learned
and insights gained from the Business Edge Haiti Project. Show Less -